We're Not Afraid of You, Potter
by ProcurerFaith
Summary: Ouran Academy has 151 copies of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’. 16 of these copies are in the fourth reading room, but only one has all thirty-six chapters. Why?


_**Disclaimer:**_ _Ouran Koukou (High School) Host Club was created by Bisco Hatori. All Harry Potter books, including 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' were created by J K Rowling. 'The Sacrifice' was written by Michael Nyman and appears on the soundtrack to the movie 'The Piano'. I do not claim ownership to any of these things, and I am not making any money from this fic (but I am looking for a job as a writer XD)_

_**Author's note:**_ _Sorry, sorry... I know, I'm sure this comparison has been done to death, but I'm new to this fandom and was fascinated by the thought of the Hitachiin twin's reaction to JK's bombshell. On that note - SPOILERS ABOUND BELOW for 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'!! Please don't say you weren't warned :-P_

* * *

_**We're Not Afraid of you, Potter**_

Haruhi pouted as she picked up her tenth copy of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' in a row. Even before she flicked to the back she knew what she would find – or at least, what sort of thing she was likely to find. She wasn't mistaken, though she was disappointed. This copy actually had shapes cut out of the pages in the last six chapters, and what remained had been written on in heavy black marker. It made the pages impossible to read.

With a huff, Haruhi put the book back on the shelf and pulled out the one next to it.

_I can't believe I've read all six of the other Harry Potter books, and most of the seventh - but now I don't get to find out what happens in the end! _She thought to herself, irritated. She opened the copy she'd just pulled from the shelf, to find that this one was missing every single page of the last six chapters. They had been torn roughly from the spine, like someone had felt real anger at their content and had been unable to control it.

"But who would do this…?" Haruhi murmured to herself in the quiet of the fourth reading room, disgusted at the disrespect shown to both the books and to the other users of the fourth reading room. She replaced the book on the shelf and picked up the twelfth volume of the sixteen before her and flicked through it.

"Ahhh. I noticed you were reading the other books in the series," said a voice at her side suddenly, and she swept around to find Tamaki standing beside her. "They are epic books of love and romance, of life and death, of good and evil!" Tamaki's eyes filled with tears as sparkles flitted around his head. Haruhi rolled her eyes and put the twelfth maimed book back on the shelf, picking up the thirteenth.

"Well, I wouldn't know," she said, "I can't read the last chapters. Every one of these books so far has been destroyed, so that they can't be read." Haruhi looked up at Tamaki, but when she did so the look on his face surprised her. It was a fond expression, one of gentle exasperation and yet almost total understanding. He picked up the fourteenth and fifteenth copies and flicked through them.

"So. They still haven't forgiven Rowling-san," Tamaki said, admiring the rather rude and unpleasant permanent pen art work in the fifteenth copy before replacing both copies on the shelf. He picked up the sixteenth copy; as he did so, Haruhi noticed that the page edges were clean and unwrinkled. Could this be a new copy, one untouched by the hands of the book vandal?

"Hmm. They missed one," Tamaki said as he immediately flicked to the back of the book and saw clean, whole pages.

"They?" Haruhi asked, her curiosity at Tamaki's reaction finally peaking. Tamaki smiled at Haruhi and handed her the book.

"You really should check out chapter thirty-one, Haruhi. I'll be in the club room when you're done."

Haruhi watched as Tamaki took his own two books, checked them out of the fourth reading room and left.

Tamaki's cryptic comments had left Haruhi very curious indeed; in fact, his coded message of 'read it and then talk to me' had helped her to decide on the use of the afternoon's free period.

She quickly checked out 'Deathly Hallows; with an assistant librarian, sat herself down at one of the desks and placed her hand on the cover of the book. She had previously read to the end of chapter thirty, after loaning a copy a week or so ago only to find it maimed at the end. As Tamaki had suggested, she opened the book triumphantly at the beginning of chapter thirty-one, and started to read.

When she reached the end of the chapter, she was surprised to find tears in her eyes – and not simply tears of sympathy for the characters within the books, the characters she had grown fond of and cared for. She now knew without doubt who 'they' were – and probably, she suspected, why they had done what they did.

'…and Fred's eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face.'

Haruhi closed the book, stood, wiped her face on her sleeve and headed quietly out of the fourth reading room towards the host club's home room, where comfort - and perhaps reason - lay in wait.

* * *

As Haruhi nudged the door to music room three open, she could head Tamaki playing the piano within. She walked in, closing the door behind her. There was no sign yet of the other members of the Host Club; the room was empty with the exception of herself, Tamaki and the grand piano whose music he was lost in.

Haruhi stepped forward and put the book on the piano. Tamaki stopped immediately and looked up at Haruhi warmly.

"Hikaru and Kaoru. It's them, isn't it? They're responsible for defacing all of those books." Haruhi said, untangling the code Tamaki had left for her. Tamaki nodded gently and slid the book off the piano. He flicked through it, his fingers pausing at the end of chapter thirty-one.

"For them, this book ends after chapter thirty. They couldn't accept the death of Fred, and could never forgive Rowling-san for separating him and George," Tamaki said, a melancholic smile gracing his face. "Every time Ouran gets a new copy, they get there before anyone else and censor the story.

"Well, it's normally before anyone else gets there, anyway."

"I hadn't noticed before, but they're a lot like Fred and George," Haruhi said. Tamaki looked very surprised.

"You didn't…notice?"

"No… And I wasn't prepared for the route the story took." Tamaki moved over on the piano stool so that Haruhi could sit beside him.

"For Hikaru and Kaoru, there is no greater tragedy. There is no torture for them that's worse than being without the other, and Rowling-san did not show a similar bond the respect it deserved. She didn't even write in the pain of that loss to George.

"The separation death brings isn't something those two are ready to consider the impact of yet. Not at all." Tamaki gently placed the book back on the piano, and his fingers slid across the keyboard again, lightweight against the ivories.

"They're still so co-dependent," Tamaki said, though his words were almost lost in the rendition of Michael Nyman's 'The Sacrifice' he was playing. Haruhi was quiet for a moment, as the piano's gentle melancholy washed over her.

She had spent a long time reading the Harry Potter books. There were parts she didn't like, sure, but the overall story had been entertaining and the characters had been interesting enough. It wasn't until she'd been able to compare the twins in the book series to her own pair of redheads that she had seen the final chapters of the last book in the same tragic light as Hikaru and Kaoru saw them.

The door opened quickly and loudly, putting an end to Tamaki's playing. The twins skittered into the room, closing the door hard behind them and snickering. A wail could be heard as Nekozawa-senpai sped down the corridor outside.

"Murderers! I can't see! I'm blind, blind I tell you!" the voice of the horrified senior echoed down the corridor and bled through the doors to music room three.

"What have you done now?" asked Haruhi, getting to her feet with a stern expression on her face.

"We just opened the blinds in the corridor," Hikaru shrugged, and Kaoru looked innocent. "It's daytime, they don't need to be closed."

Haruhi purposefully picked up the book on the piano, which immediately caught the attention of the twins. Hikaru's face lowered into a scowl, and Kaoru grimaced.

"Oi, Tono – is Haruhi really allowed in here with that book?" Hikaru asked, jabbing his finger in the direction of the offending item and scowling. Kaoru slid behind his twin and put his head on his shoulder, wrapping his arms around him.

"I hate that book," he said quietly.

"It's a new copy – one with all the last chapters," Haruhi said, waving it in the air as she spoke. The twins followed the movements of the book with their eyes. After a few more waves, Haruhi noticed them doing so. She moved it to one side of her and watched as the twins' eyes followed. She did the same in the opposite direction, and a smile played at her lips as they followed it once more. In addition, Hikaru started to fidget.

"You're really upset about this book, aren't you?" she asked. Hikaru looked away and pouted, but Kaoru said,

"We read all the books. Then, in that one, Rowling-san killed Fred. She severed something sacred, and she didn't even tell us about George's feelings. It was like their bond didn't matter." Kaoru slid his hand into that of his twin, and Hikaru clutched it. As he did so, Hikaru's expression saddened.

"We saw that we were like them from the first book. They represented _us_ in that story. There aren't that many books we have found that involve twins – and here were our doubles.

"When Rowling-san killed Fred, it felt like-"

"She killed us," Hikaru interrupted Kaoru, his expression stern.

"One of us," Kaoru said softly, attempting to gently correct Hikaru.

"_Us,_" Hikaru's voice was quiet but firm; he was not going to give up his grasp on remembered pain so easily.

Haruhi nodded, folding the book into her chest.

"Which one of you was Fred?" she asked.

"I'm Fred," the twins chorused. Kaoru smiled.

"Fred was the lucky one," he said. However, the look in his eyes as he rubbed his hands over his still sulking twin's shoulders indicated that he felt that the Fred of the Hitachiin twins was actually Hikaru.

* * *

"_How could she do this to us?" Kaoru wept. "Poor George, poor, poor George…" Hikaru pulled his twin into his arms as they sat on the bed together. Kaoru's tears were spattered on his copy of 'Deathly Hallows' and as Hikaru noticed this, he picked the book up and tossed it away from where they sat. _

"_We won't ever read to the end," Hikaru said as he clung protectively to his weeping twin. "Fred will never die if we never read further than chapter thirty."_

"_How could he continue to live without Fred?" Kaoru said, between sobs. "Poor George…"_

"_Maybe he wouldn't," Hikaru said, tugging the blanket up from the bed and wrapping it around both himself and his twin. He cuddled his brother warmly and wiped his face with the blanket._

"_I'll be George if it will make you smile," he said, pressing his forehead to Kaoru's. Kaoru shook his head._

"_I'd never wish that on you, never._

"_Can we both be Fred instead?"_

_Hikaru smiled and let out a little chuckle. _

"_If that's what you want,"he said. Kaoru leaned into Hikaru, and was snuggled instantly for his trouble. Hikaru glanced across to the far end of the bed. His copy of 'Deathly Hallows' now lay with Kaoru's copy on top. Frowning, he reached out suddenly and grabbed Kaoru's copy of the book._

"_We'll never read to the end," he said firmly and, turning to the back, tore a handful of pages from the final chapters and threw them on the bed. He repeated that action until there were no pages at all after the end of chapter thirty. He then tossed that copy aside and lifted his own, repeating the exercise. Kaoru watched, sniffing but otherwise silent. _

* * *

"Haruhi…" Hikaru said, edging towards her. Haruhi looked like a deer in headlights as Hikaru lowered his hands to the book.

"Can I see this?" His smile was not one that contained joy or amusement; rather, Haruhi thought, it was the smile a cat might make while stalking a mouse.

"No!" Haruhi said, pulling the book away from Hikaru's grasping fingers. "You can't destroy this one. I've taken it out in my name!"

"Please, I just want to look-" Hikaru said, but Haruhi turned away from him and said,

"No way."

"Please!"

"No!"

"Tono, make her give me the book!" Hikaru complained plaintively, looking across at Tamaki, who sat on the piano stool with his head in his arms as they rested on top of the piano. Tamaki was about to respond when Kaoru gently took Hikaru's hand from behind and said,

"We can't get them all." His voice was no more than a murmur. Hikaru frowned and said,

"But…"

"We can't get them all," Kaoru repeated, and rested his forehead on Hikaru's shoulder, wrapping his arms up across his twin's chest. Hikaru's fist tightened at his side.

"We're not Fred and George. We are Hikaru and Kaoru," Kaoru said quietly. "It doesn't matter. It did then, but it doesn't now." Hikaru lifted his hand and tightened his fingers over Kaoru's, knotted together as they were over his own chest.

"Making you cry is unforgivable," Hikaru's voice was quiet. Kaoru smiled against Hikaru's back and laughed softly.

"Then _I _forgive her. I'd like you to, too."

"Waaaaaaaughh!" said a voice at their left. The twins both looked around, surprised to find Hunny-senpai looking up at them, Usa-chan clutched in his arms. "So cute!" he wailed. Nobody had noticed the entrance of Hunny and Mori; Haruhi and Tamaki had both been distracted by the twins.

The twin boys blinked, surprised that their words - which had on this occasion been almost totally artless - had raised such a reaction. They also glanced up at Mori-senpai as he approached and lifted Hunny-senpai onto his shoulders.

"Does this mean I can read the end of the book?" Haruhi asked.

Before the twins had a chance to answer, the door to music room three opened once again and Kyoya stepped inside.

"Sorry I'm late. I…" He pushed up his glasses, and his eyes slid from person to person as he sensed presence in the room.

"Did I miss something?" he asked, opening his notebook. Tamaki shrugged.

"Nothing to worry about," he said, smiling fondly. Unnerved nonetheless at the warm, fuzzy glow surrounding Tamaki, Kyoya merely said,

"Hmm."

As he approached, he glanced around the room.

"Where did the twins go? They were just here."

Haruhi's gaze immediately fell to the top of the piano, where her recently loaned copy of 'Deathly Hallows' was conspicuous by its absence. Her eyes narrowed.

Kaoru watched avidly as Hikaru scribbled in thick black marker over the last few pages of chapter thirty one, pen cap still in his mouth where he'd removed it with his teeth. They stood just down the corridor from the club room.

"La'ht unn, I h'omith," Hikaru said through the pen lid. Kaouru smiled crookedly and said,

"I don't mind – but are you sure we should be doing this? It is loaned in Haruhi's name, after all." Hikaru shrugged off his brother's concern and removed the marker cap from his mouth.

"We'll pay for the replacement. It's worth it to get this out of Ouran," Hikaru said, his expression slipping into that of a wicked little boy. Kaoru's expression was identical to Hikaru's as the older twin tore out a handful of back pages, and Kaoru tore the pages once again, as they fell away from the back of the book like flakes of paper snow.

Suddenly Hikaru's senses for being nailed in the act twitched, and he grabbed Kaoru and ducked as a book of sheet music flew through the air towards them, narrowly missing Hikaru's head and brushing the very tips of his hair as it whistled by.

"Oi!" he shouted angrily, and then realised who'd thrown the book. Haruhi stood in the corridor; another book was in her raised hand, and she was aiming to kill – or at least seriously maim. Tamaki stood behind her, his eyes large and full of tears. He called,

"How could you to that to Haruhi, you fiends!?"

"You're both idiots!" Haruhi said, as she started to run towards the troublesome twins, heavy book still in hand.

"Run!" Kaoru said, grabbing Hikaru and racing for the stairs. Together they ran down the immense staircase, giggling like children half their age, pieces of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' scattering the stairs behind them as they ran.

_-fin-_

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_Thank you for reading right to the end of my fic! It's very much appreciated :) I hope it brought you a little enjoyment :)_


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